![]() As illustrator, he not only established the consistent appearance of Robin and his crew as muscled men in tights (fig. Pyle’s passionate attention to every feature of book design and manufacture marks each page. Standard histories credit this volume as exercising “an incalculable influence on the whole course of illustration,” 1 and in particular of establishing a niche for high-end children’s stories that stood apart from the usual run of ephemeral, inexpensive, and flamboyantly colorful publications. Its publisher, Scribner, was vying for market share in the burgeoning field of children’s literature, and improbably entrusted Howard Pyle (1853-1911)- a free-lance illustrator and writer who had never produced a book before - with complete oversight of font, layout, decoration, paper, format, and binding for The Merry Adventures, all this in addition to having him create the story and illustrations (figs. 1), Pyle’s lavish and handsome volume urgently proclaimed to its earliest admirers, this is no ordinary children’s book. Produced in a larger than usual format – crown octavo – and bound in full leather with elaborate blind-stamped cover (fig. ![]() New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, MDCCCLXXXIII. ![]() Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire. More features from our Rare Book Collection ![]()
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